Transit

Today, developers, planners, and policy makers alike share a relatively clear vision of what Transit Oriented Development means. The vision is one of a walkable area of mixed residential and commercial uses surrounding a public transit station, typically a rail station. But a recent article from The Atlantic’s CityLab urges us to move past this already […]

Recently Walk Score released their 2014 City and Neighborhood Report. The report ranks cities and their neighborhoods by their walk score, transit score, and bike score. Accordingly, Downtown LA was ranked the most walkable and transit accessible neighborhood in Los Angeles. One might ask, if Downtown is so walkable and transit accessible, why do we […]

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced earlier this week that he would be postponing the merger of the Department of City Planning and Department of Building and Safety, an initiative birthed by former mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. According to LA Downtown News, the idea behind the merger is to create a single unit that would handle all aspects […]

For the past two years, Urban One has been fortunate to collaborate with Professor Paul Habibi and the Los Angeles Business Council on the LABC Institute’s Livable Communities Report. The 2013 Livable Communities Report: A Call to Action, was just unveiled at the LABC’s Annual Mayoral Housing, Jobs, and Transportation Summit last Friday, October 18th. […]

Randyl Drummer from CoStar recently posted a story on their website of the need and recent trend for repositioning distressed assets such as malls and other under-performing retail centers in order to transform them into income-producing properties through alternative uses. This story really hit home with Urban One as we have been consulting in the retail sector for […]

Urban One’s Ben Feingold and Eric Metz collaborated with UCLA Anderson School of Management lecturer/developer, Paul Habibi, on a report that was commissioned and released earlier this week by the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC). It is a study on the current state of workforce housing, economic competitiveness, and real estate development in Los Angeles, […]

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Board of Directors voted to certify environmental documents for two transit projects that have long been in the works, both of which will have huge impacts on infrastructure and development throughout the Los Angeles region. The Board certified Final Environmental Impact Statements/Reports (FEIS/FEIR) for both the Regional […]

So, for those who don’t know, Metro purchased Los Angeles Union Station and 40+ acres surrounding the building last year. They received qualifications from many world-renown architecture & planning firms. They shortlisted six teams (EE&K, Gruen Associates/Grimshaw Architects, IBI Group/Foster + Partners, Moore Ruble Yudell and TEN Arquitectors, NBBJ/Ingenhoven Architects, and Renzo Piano Building Workshop/Parsons Transportation Group) to take part in […]

Infrastructure. What is it exactly, and why should we care? Let’s start with what it is. Most people have a general understanding of the concept, but aren’t sure exactly what comprises this system of public works. Simply put – Infrastructure is the system of roads, rails, bridges, tunnels, airports, seaports, pipes, reservoirs, power plants, sewers, […]